Thursday, August 30, 2012

A Family Transformed

The below story is from Operation Christmas Child UK and is yet another example of how God is working through these simple shoeboxes. Do not be discouraged!! Your small gift packed with love and prayer can change lives. Praise be to God!!

A Family Transformed

A
seventeen year old boy living in a small village in Romania heard that
there was going to be a Christmas gift distribution, so he went and
received a gift filled box from Operation Christmas Child, along with
the booklet explaining the birth of Christ. The story intrigued him and
he would go to church where the gifts were given as often as he could
and even attended summer camp put on by the church.

On
the way to camp the Pastor asked the boy about his life at home. The
boy shared with his new friend about his desperate home situation – that
his mum was a prostitute and that his father found clients for her. He
was ashamed of his family and knew their lifestyle was wrong.

Upon
returning to his village from the summer camp, the young man boldly
told his mother that he could not live as they did anymore. As it turned
out, his pastor friend found a place for him to stay at the church. It
was not long however before he began to feel burdened for his family and
God gave him the strength he needed to go home.

His
mum was the next person in his family to accept Christ. Due to the size
of the village, it did not take long for everyone to know that the
former prostitute was a Christian. The father however was very angry
because his wife was not making money for him any more and he would have
to find another line of work. He tried many times to kill the mother
and son. One day he came home drunk and grabbed the woodchopper, closed
the door and gave his wife and son one last minute to make a wish. They
began to pray and God protected them that day, for the father simply
turned and left.

The church family continued to
meet and began to pray for this man. He soon became very ill and had to
go to the hospital. The hospital called the family to come and get him
as he was going to die very soon. The mother and the son brought the man
home and the church began to pray. The prayers were heard and answered.
The man stood up from his death bed the next morning –healed and
changed!

A shoebox gift for a boy was the beginning of bringing life into a hopeless situation.

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HI!!! I am Rhonda and I am a year round volunteer with Operation Christmas Child here in the Klamath Area and in case you couldn't tell yet, I LOVE OCC!

I hope that at this blog you are inspired to pack boxes, to pray, and to share the news about Operation Christmas Child with others in your life.

To God be the glory!

“How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” (Romans 10:14-15)

lambofhisflock @ gmail . com

DROP OFF LOCATION

Or if you learned about it too late this year, or time slipped away, you can still build a shoebox online at https://www.samaritanspurse.org/operation-christmas-child/buildonline/ The boxes built online can be more expensive, especially if you are a sale shopper BUT they have all approved items and can go anywhere in the world, including areas where there are many restrictions, such as Muslim nations. So please consider this option if you still want to do a box.

And it is NEVER too early to start shopping and crafting towards next years' boxes! There are still hundreds of millions of children around the world in desperate poverty and needing the love of Jesus.